According to DGP’s information, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) is preparing a bill to stop the undermining of the activities and judgments of the judges nominated by the new NCJ by the remaining judges.  The bill could be presented to the Sejm next week as a deputies’ bill.  It could contain two solutions based on German and French laws.  “Decided solutions are needed to bring the legal chaos under control, which could spread if some judges decide arbitrarily whether they recognise others,” says a government official. 

The first solution applies to the ability to punish judges who fail to comply with the principles of the administration of justice and damage the interests of the parties.  This applies to Section 339 of the German Criminal Code, which states that “A judge, another public official or an arbitrator who, in conducting or deciding on a legal matter, perverts the course of justice to the benefit or to the detriment of a party shall be liable to imprisonment from one to five years.”  “It is being considered whether we should introduce similar regulations in compliance with the constitution with the reservation that the court immunity here is far broader than in Germany,” emphasises our interviewee.

The next consideration is taken from French law.  This is Article 10 of the Act on the Status of the Judiciary, which specifies the matter of the apoliticality of judges.  It contains a prohibition of “political considerations”, “demonstration of hostility to the principles or form of the government of the Republic”, “actions of a political nature which are incompatible with the requirement to demonstrate restraint imposed on judges because of their function” or “organised activities that can prevent or hinder the functioning of the judiciary”.

It is not yet known if both solutions or only one are to be included in the bill and in precisely what form.  According to our information, the ministry of justice is involved in the work on the bill, while the prime minister’s people and the president’s people are being kept informed.  According to our information, the signs are that the bill will be sent to the Sejm as a deputies’ bill and not a government bill.  The aim of the bill is to stop the process of undermining the right of judges to adjudicate.

Law and Justice became afraid of the consequences of the CJEU ruling; the direct reason for this was the decision issued by Judge Paweł Juszczyszyn in Olsztyn ordering the disclosure of the list of judges who signed the letters of support for the candidates to the NCJ.  It contains the statement that “the person issuing the judgment could have been an unauthorised person”.

“If such a bill actually appears in the Sejm, we shall certainly not leave it without an adamant response,” says Krystian Markiewicz, president of the Association of Polish Judges, ‘Iustitia’.  However, as he points out, all activities undertaken by the association will be within the limits of the law.  According to the judge, the introduction of solutions of this type is caused by the fact that the ruling party failed to intimidate the judges, despite all of the changes in the law made to date.  “Although I imagine that we shall now be imprisoned for our judgments, it seems that this is primarily about creating a chilling effect.  After all, everything will still depend on the courts anyway,” notes President Markiewicz.

He adds that ideas of this kind constitute evidence that the ruling party wants to take over the country in whole.  “Only the independent courts are still standing in the way,” states the judge.